Some great, published ideas remain obscure for years, decades or centuries. Alexander Fleming's penicillin research at St. Mary's Hospital in England is one such story.
Nine years after Fleming's 1929 publication , an ever-inquisitive biochemist, Ernst Chain, working with Florey and Heatley, sought out the lysozyme studies of Fleming and his penicillin paper. Florey and Chain were studying the structure of bacterial cell walls. They wanted to determine ways to destroy bacteria. Initially, they had no interest in injectable cures for infectious disease. What happened next rapidly moved penicillin from the laboratory to the WW 2 battlefront and hospitals of the allies. Thousands were saved from permanent disability or death.
Penicillin the Mold Tested in Culture Liquid and Animals
Chain was at Oxford and soon obtained Fleming's original Penicillium notatum, the mold that produces the penicillin. The Penicillium was being used in some other Oxford labs to control bacterial contamination on agar plates.